This thread will discuss the implications of homosexual profitability.
I think that recent investigations into the subject of homosexuality on this site have been missing something. What they have been missing as they say in finance is the bottom line. We might idolize things like health and morality, but I would suggest that a more important driving factor that influences behavior is profitability.
Hypothesis: In a modern capitalist economy any behavior which contributes to the generation of profit will tend to continue rather that go extinct.
Currently homosexuality contributes to the generation of profits here in America. Plus as long as there is money to be made from homosexuality then it will continue. We can argue all day long about homosexuality in other contexts but at the end of the day those don’t have much on an impact on the situation as the single factor of profitability does.
Any time you have a target audience and you cater to them, it’s usually profitable. Look at Will and Grace, that show opened the floodgates in America and they haven’t closed since.
The funny gay character in movies, ‘My fabulous gay wedding’, even Richard winning survivor. If homosexuals are watching, then it is profitable. So far as the industry would indicate, they are in fact watching.
Homosexuality obviously sells, especially in television. However, to use that to predict the trend development of this particular sexuality in society, one need to assess first the social influence of media in general, to see in what ways, to what extend and relevant to what areas, is media influencial to social development. If homosexuality is proven to be independent of media influence, then the hypothesis is effectively rejected. However, here the assumption is that media entertainment is the only market for homosexuality. If it has othermarkets, then it would have other externalities that give other grounds for assessing the hypothesis.
With the influx of homosexual characters in movies over the last few years there has been a nearly inversely proportional decline in movie attendance.*
Regards,
-Thirst
*[size=75]There has been an attendance decline for several decades; however, there has been an increase in the decline which can be measured separately from the overall decline. Also, while attendance declined for several years, box office receipts still increased–this may be attributed to the increase in ticket prices.[/size]
If the only economic benefit to accepting homosexuality is that people like to watch them on TV, I suggest we bring back the elegant tradition of the Side Show as well.
Also, there’s always the novelty factor to take into consideration. Someday people won’t fun any of those ‘fresh’ or ‘original’ or ‘groundbreaking’ anymore, and then we’ll have to see the productivity these sorts of things really have.
Of course the bisexuals are getting completely overlooked, until we need a new ‘zany’ character they’ll stay in the production cupboard.
As to Will and Grace - awful show, apart from the gay element I’ve got no idea why it was made. Just like that dreadful curry house based sitcom on Channel 4 last year that was clearly only produced because it contained a cast of ethnic minorities…
The same way any minority position generates its’ own industry. There are books, magazines, movies, study foundations, help groups, all of which need people to make them run. Any homosexual individual can take advantage of belonging or working for such an organization. The homosexual community creates its’ own industry.
Look at the Christian fundamentalist ‘industry’ of publishing all the literature decrying homosexuality. There are many homophobes who depend on what they hate to make a living.
xander is right in that anything that can be talked about will be, and there will always be someone making a buck off of whatever that might be.
thirst4metal:
With the influx of homosexual characters in movies over the last few years there has been a nearly inversely proportional decline in movie attendance.*
K:The fact is there are many reasons for the decline of
movie attendance. The ones I notice are A. Crappy movies.
B. Remakes of crappy TV shows. C. Going out to movies is
a crappy experience costing a shit load of money.
D. I am waiting for movies for adults. I am bored of
18 year old puppy love movies.
E. And my personal favorite
Crappy movies.
Ok I checked the links, maybe I’m not looking hard enough… but I think I’m missing something here.
I’ll accept in its early stages that AIDS was more prevalent, and spread through the gay community… but I haven’t found the evidence that shows that this was through drug use. I think it’s a little shortsighted to claim that ‘gays are drug users’. I always thought that was just a stereotype pertaining to the younger crowd. Of course the younger crowd are the predominant drug users anyways… gay or straight.
Now that I thnk about this, I suppose it would be ok to claim that if the ratio of homosexuals to straight with aids was higher… then the drug companies would be profiting off like… the treatment drugs.
But it’s not like the drug companies are making the heroin that select homosexuals are putting in their needles.
aids is transmitted through dirty needles as well…
hard drug users (sometimes) have a tendency to share needles thus the incidents of aids transmission through the iv drug user community was/is greater than the other communities.
since the drug companies who manufacture aids drugs want to sell their product, they need to create a need for that product… they aren’t endorsing iv drug use but they have to have new aids patients for their evil capitalist schemes to work…
I thought that AIDS was created by the CIA to try to kill homosexuals. I could be wrong about that, the book I read didn’t seem particularly reliable…
Of course heterosexuality is profitable, just not as profitable per person per gaybar. Have you ever been a free gay club? I’ve been to plenty of ‘mixed’ clubs that were free…
Actually I did once go to a bisexual karaoke night which was free…
Can we demonstrate causation or is that mere coincidence? I would guess coicidence, but I don’t know.
My idea here was not primarily concerned with the sale of homosexual characters to a mass market. It was more about substantiating a target audience for products and services. This is part of the broader umbrella that is expressed in a universally accept cliche, [size=150]Sex sells.[/size]
